The myth of the trigger happy vigilante

[Nuclear Unicorn]

In 2012, there were 8,855 criminal gun homicides in the FBI's homicide database, but only 258 gun killings by private citizens that were deemed justifiable, which the FBI defines as "the killing of a felon, during the commission of a felony, by a private citizen."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/06/19/guns-in-america-for-every-criminal-killed-in-self-defense-34-innocent-people-die/

Okay. So, what are some underlying facts we should know about this stat?

* There are over 300 million guns in the US.

* Those 300+ million guns are owned by roughly 90 million households.

* 1% of the US population is responsible for approximately 60% of the crime

* Approximately 60% of homicides are perpetrated by someone with a prior criminal record

* Depending on the source there are 70,000 DGUs annually (though some studies assert hundreds of thousands of DGUs annually)


What's the takeaway? Americans are heavily armed but they aren't itching for a fight. Of the 70,000 who do find themselves in a situation where they are legally entitled to defend themselves only 258 actually killed their attacker.

Criminals, however, are on a trajectory to increasingly violent behavior and cannot be trusted to consider the consequences of their actions.

[Eleanors38]

1. How do you see the "trajectory to increasingly violent behavior" coming about? Why is this?

[Nuclear Unicorn]

2. Certainly a fair question.

Approximately 40 to 60% of gun homicides are committed by individuals who have had previous encounters with law enforcement. This is, admittedly, an assumption on my part but my assumption is that only a vanishingly small percentage of those encounters involve a gun homicide. That would imply lesser crimes with homicide being a higher crime hence the characterization that those who end-up committing gun homicides have moved along a trajectory of increasingly violent behavior.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

3. Kick (already recced) n/t

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

4. So if we figure...

...the (average # of years in prison times the average cost per year of prison times 258 nasty scums killed) plus (the average loss per felony committed times the average rate of felonies per criminal per year times the average life expectancy of the 258 nasty scums killed) plus (the average cost per arrest plus the cost per prosecution times the 258 nasty scums killed) equals a number of dollars saved that's big enough for me rest easy at night knowing there's folks that took JFK's suggestion to heart.

thank you all

John F. Kennedy: "Today, we need a nation of Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared to take arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as the basic purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that freedom."

[pablo_marmol]

5. "The myth of the trigger happy vigilante"

Ah yes......a tasty, zesty dish that goes well with a side of The Myth of the Virgin Killer!



http://www.hoffmang.com/firearms/kates/Myth_of_the_Virgin_Killer-Kates-Polsby.pdf